DK GreenRoots

China correspondent Stephen McDonell

The Chinese Government has described the view that climate change is not man-made as a marginal and "extreme" outlook.

According to Xie Zhenhua, a deputy director at China's powerful National Development and Reform Commission, climate change is a fact based on long-term observation in many countries.

At the annual session of China's National People's Congress, he said that those who advocate that climate change is not man-made are holding an extreme and marginal view.

He said that the majority of the world's scientists believed that climate change has been caused by burning fossil fuels.

He and other officials said that more work needed to be done to ensure that scientific data on climate change was watertight, but the world had no choice but to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

Mr Xie said climate change is not only something that ordinary Chinese people can feel and experience every day, but that it may soon have a huge impact on China's food security and even its economic stability.

They also stated that there is some differing of opinion on what is causing this, however that sensible policy is to recognize and begin to take steps to mitigate the risk.

"There are still two different viewpoints in the scientific field," said Xie Zhenhua, citing human activities and the scientifically scoffed-at sunspot theory.

Xie does not dispute that the climate is changing, however, and said Wednesday that the consequences of this change are alarming enough that countries should cut emissions anyway.

Link

Not only do the Chinese recognize the dire predicted consequences in a warming Earth, they are putting their money where their mouth is.

Energy, in case you were asking.

This past September, I wrote an article which pointed to scientific research that showed a possible correlation between melting Glacial Ice and Tectonic activity - specifically in reference to the back to back Earthquakes and Tsunamis that occurred 1 day apart in Sumatra and in Samoa.

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In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, animal rights , frugal living, food safety , world food crisis and the huge contribution of meat production to global warming.

Who could resist this message from Rep. Dennis Kucinich?

Even if we prevent coal companies from leveling, deforesting, and polluting much of Appalachia by stopping mountaintop removal mining, coal will still not be clean. Even if we stop the release of greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, coal will still not be clean. Coal-fired power plants produce mountains of combustion waste which have the potential to contaminate ground and surface water with toxic heavy metals like arsenic.

The New York Times had a nice description of the problem:

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A catastrophic water shortage could turn out to be a much bigger threat to mankind this century than wars, soaring food prices and the ever relentless consumption of known sources of energy. The annoying thing is either water is so abundant (in some parts of the world) that it can be used leisurely and foolishly (amusement parks, fountains, golf) or it's so scarce that you fight wars over it. Which region will be most affected? I'll tell you over the jump.

Nicholas Stern, author of the Government's Stern Review on the economics of climate change, warned several years ago that underground aquifers could run dry at the same time as melting glaciers play havoc with fresh supplies of usable water. That report, dated October 2006, (lauded by such luminaries as Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs) states clearly that fresh rainfall is not enough to refill the underground water tables and that water is not a renewable resource. BTW, the very same Stern later this year will publish another huge UN study - dubbed the "Stern for nature" which will attempt to put a price on global environmental damage, and suggest ways to prevent it. I can't wait.

Here's the part of Stern's telling report that really worries me:

"The glaciers on the Himalayas are retreating, and they are the sponge that holds the water back in the rainy season. We're facing the risk of extreme run-off, with water running straight into the Bay of Bengal and taking a lot of topsoil with it. A few hundred square miles of the Himalayas are the source for all the major rivers of Asia - the Ganges, the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Mekong, Brahmaputra, Salween, and Sutlej, among others - where 3bn people live. That's almost half the world's population."

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Climate change will do more than make life on Earth a bit warmer. Even a 5th-grader can tell you that. The problem with people like James Inhofe is that they are not smarter than 5th-graders.

If things don't change (for the better) quickly, we are looking at major die-off of the world's trees. If the trees go, we are not far behind.

From the ultra-liberal hippies at NASA:

Underlying Cause of Massive Pinyon Pine Die-Off Revealed
October 10, 2005

The high heat that accompanied the recent drought was the underlying cause of death for millions of pinyon pines throughout the Southwest, according to new research.

The resulting landscape change will affect the ecosystem for decades. Hotter temperatures coupled with drought are the type of event predicted by global climate change models. The new finding suggests big, fast changes in ecosystems may result from global climate change.

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Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have published a study, Evidence for a recent increase in forest growth, suggesting that climate change can quite literally be measured by treehuggers. Like the average American citizen, American trees look to have had increasingly bulging middles in recent decades. Having spent their careers quite literally hugging trees, SERC scientists Geoffrey Parker and Sean McMahon have written a study documenting

evidence that forests in the Eastern United States are growing faster than they have in the past 225 years. The study offers a rare look at how an ecosystem is responding to climate change.

For over 20 years, Parker has gone into a set of forests in the mid-Atlantic, tape measure in hand, and giving them a hug to measure their size. Parker's own hugging has been extended with a robust group of volunteers conducting regular measurements of specified trees. (The boy scout to the right, while in a SERC forest, isn't engaged in actual measurements for the study.) Some 250,000 hugs later, he has quite a database in hand.

The results of analyzing hugs surprised these researchers. Based on the data from these 100,000s of hugs, Parker's and McMahon's analysis documents

that the forest is packing on weight at a much faster rate than expected. ... on average, the forest is growing an additional 2 tons per acre annually. That is the equivalent of a tree with a diameter of 2 feet sprouting up over a year.

In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, frugal living,animal rights,global food crisis, food safety and the direct connection between meat production and climate change.

There is a newly released blurb on the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) website (see http://www.awea.org/newsroom/releases/02-18-10_US_Wind_Resource_Larger.h...) that is definitely worth a look, a mirror of one from the US Dept of Energy:
http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/filter_detail.asp?itemid=2542

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You may remember that in the middle of the snow storms, Senator James Graft Inhofe (R - OK) constructed an "igloo" in Washington, DC and posted a sign reading "Honk if you heart global warming." That other clown, Senator Jim DeMint -bleated- tweeted "It's going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries uncle." Chiming in like a pair of demented marionettes Rush Limbaugh and Hannity blathered on with story after story distorting the facts to fit their dishonest narrative and Murdoch's bottom line.

Today's main feature in the Guardian has some revealing facts, undeniable facts:

World's top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates.

Report for the UN into the activities of the world's 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment

Dig into those companies and you'll discover, well, the usual suspects!

One week after the publication of a report in Science documenting the negative environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report in response to inquiries from two Senate committees. The GAO report examined oversight for Appalachian mountaintop removal sites, including 2343 sites permitted for valley fills from 2000 to 2008.

First posted at Motley Moose. Cross posted here on the kind suggestion of Patric Juillet.

It's been a stormy time in the science of climatology since various emails were hacked that revealed the British-based Climate Research Unit, a major contributor to the IPCC, had used bad data and dodgy coding in some of its reports.

The minimal scientific impact of this has been explored widely, but I'm more interested in the way it has regalvanised a movement which, dominant in the US blogosphere, and now increasingly vocal over here, seeks to deny the agreed probabilities of both climate warming, and human contribution to it.

Once again, the blogosphere, while providing wonderful resources for fact checking, data analysis and corroboration, actually seems to be working in reverse, and actively promoting groupthink, irrationality and faith-based argument...

Arctic ice melt could cost $24tln by 2050: report

Arctic ice melting could cost global agriculture, real estate and insurance anywhere from $US2.4 trillion ($2.8 billion) to $US24 trillion by 2050 in damage from rising sea levels, floods and heat waves, according to a report released on Friday.

Okay, so we know that despite troubles in Detroit and Toyotaland the automobile is still king in the US of A. But sometimes it takes some raw numbers to bring home just how much the entire country's infrastructure is stacked against non-driving traffic participants.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking just released the 2010 Benchmarking Report on bicycling and walking in the U.S. The 192 page report collected and analyzed data from all fifty states and the 51 largest U.S. cities.

From bicycle and pedestrian staffing levels to bike racks on buses, this report is a tour de force of numbers, data and statistics concerning the millions of trips taken every day by foot or bike. The bottom line though is this: While 9.6% of all trips nationwide are people powered, a mere 1.2% of federal transportation funding is spent on bicycling and walking.

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I have walked in a few rainforests in my lifetime, mostly in Australia and Indonesia. I would never forget the time I spent trekking through the majestic Kakadu National Park trails and being entranced by the amazingly luscious layers of its tropical rainforest, teeming with life and fragile ecosystems. I have witnessed the long-tailed Balinese Macaques playing with one another and trying to steal my lunch in the Ubud santuary, a short visit to Sumatra took me to the Harapan rainforest which is home, among other species, to an astounding array of charismatic butterflies....but I have never been to the Yasuni National Park in the north-east of Ecuador and that's what I want to discuss in this diary.

The North Carolina Coastal Resource Commission just finished the first study of sea level rise in the United States.

The most significant part of the study was what the report said about what the market has decided about sea level rise.

...even if the public and governments drag their feet on reacting to a changing coast, others aren't waiting to adapt.

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Attention New Yorkers,
(and/or, please send this to anyone you know who is a New Yorker):

Here is a quick entry about a petition to get our Assembly/Senate off its duff and pass some job creating (and at NO COST to the essentially empty NY State treasury!!!) and super environmental friendly legislation:

http://wagengineering.blogspot.com/2010/01/ny-feed-in-law-petition.html

If you can, please sign it. And tell others about it.

Introduction
There is another eye-opening article on The Oil Drum called "Chinese Transportation Growth" that bears careful scrutiny. Especially in light of the recent (well, last 28 years) oil production trends. It turns out that the world oil production rate appears to be "flat-lining". Then consider the recent price trends over the last 22 years. It turns out that raising the price significantly does not do wonders to increase production rates for oil, despite what classical economics teaches. Whatever response time for production rate increases to price increases exists is glacial in comparison to how fast prices move. And the recent price spikes tend to have a boomerang effect; when prices drop suddenly - the price ricochet - drilling activity drops - see here.

The bottom line: in recent times, the production of liquid fuels appears to have peaked. And if the potential supply rate excess relative to the demand rate goes towards zero, prices will skyrocket. Thus, if the demand increases in any one country and prices are to remain fairly constant, then the demand in some other part of the world must decline. It's just simple math.

Here are the Top 12 Mistakes people make when it comes to curbside single-stream recycling (list courtesy of Boulder, Colorado's Ecocycle Times).

In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, animal rights, frugal living, food safety, and the direct connection between livestock production and global warming.

Senator Feinstein's Mojave Bill comes during a gold rush to secure rights for renewable energy.

Projects of up to 1000 megawatts are planned, a figure that matches typical outputs of coal and nuclear plants.

riting about water shortages and access to clean, potable water can be frustrating, particularly in the wake of the Copenhagen -debacle- modest achievement. According to WHO, almost one fifth of the world's population live in areas where the water is either scarce or vanishing. One quarter of the global population also live in developing countries that face water shortages due to a lack of infrastructure to fetch water from rivers and aquifers. The lack of political will is palpable.

This is grim news indeed. However in this diary I would like to sing the praises of one man and his valiant efforts to bring clean water to some of those who need it most.

Btw, pic above is from Ezio Burani. It does convey the message.

In this weekly series we have been discussing the many benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, food safety,animal rights, frugal living, and the direct connection between meat production and global warming.

Many of us are disappointed about the results coming from COP15, and we're concerned that the world isn't addressing climate change fast enough. We're afraid that by the time we get enough people on board it will be too late.

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Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow.
The only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears.

- Do they know it's Christmas?

Warming sounds nice.

Ya know, warm & fuzzy, a glass of warm milk, a warm-hearted person, etc.

But the gruesome truth of climate change is this: Our planet's supply of fresh water is disappearing.

In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, animal rights, frugal living, global food crisis and the direct connection between meat production and global warming.

Wrapping paper isn't accepted by most recycling facilities (including CVWMA) because it contaminates the recycling process. "But why?", you ask. It's because wrapping paper is not accepted by some recycled paper mills. There are a number of reasons for this.

I loathe to use a Ballardian catchword in the title but it conveys the sheer insanity and the destructive practices that the palm oil business does to our planet (if you have five minutes to spare please peruse the preceding linked pdf)

Now, thankfully (and quite possibly because of "gentle pressure"), we have the globe’s two biggest food firms, Nestlé and Kraft, who have launched internal investigations after a Greenpeace report claimed both purchase palm oil from Indonesian company PT Smart whose parent group Sinar Mas allegedly engages in widespread illegal deforestation and peatland clearance in Indonesia.

There are many opponents of renewable energy who site the "unreliability", most notably of wind and solar PV derived electricity. For the US North Coast, and much of the northeast, solar PV is most likely going to remain a niche play, and not a major source of electricity. However, it does produce electricity during daylight hours only, and in the summer, this often corresponds to significant (and expensive) peak power, and decreasing the peak demand can do wonders to chopping the price for that peak electricity.

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Originally posted at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.

Often, as I’ve travelled and lived in different parts of the globe, I’ve stood on mountains and beaches and looked around, somewhat wistfully, trying to visualise how those landscapes would have looked a few centuries ago. I’m sure you’ve done it too.

Many, if not most, of these places were once vast tracts of old growth forest, with rich diversity in flora and fauna. Natural biological water cleaning systems were in place, as the hydrological cycle was efficient and largely unmolested by man. Most places still had rich, dark soils and no chemicals had yet been employed to stamp out soil life.

These were the days of 280ppm. We lived then with respect, if not even fear, for a nature wide and wonderful – never for a moment thinking we could one day be the cause of these vast and mysterious systems collapsing wholesale.

But, that was then. The industrial revolution, in combination with the exponential function that has taken the human population into a steep hockey stick incline (it took from the dawn of time until the 1800s before we reached our first billion people, but we’ve multiplied that almost seven times in the two centuries since), has landed us in a world that looks vastly different today.

Yesterday I wrote of a technology called concentrated photovoltaics, which if all goes well, may bring the retail cost of solar panels down from at present, $4.31 per watt, to 30c per watt.

Moore's Law for Solar - 30c watt in years to come

Here's a refreshing break from political futility: global futility.

UN population graph (which I tried to embed but apparently was born before that garage project in Palo Alto that led to The Great Mutation)

As you can see from the graph, we're fooked.

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"We have an economy where we steal the future, sell it in the present and call it GDP (Gross Domestic Product)" Paul Hawken

The United States as of 2007, had approximately 1,087 Gigawatts of electricity generating capacity.

China had around 624 Gigawatts of Electricity Generation capacity.

crossposted at Daily Kos

from an article posted on the NY Times website around 6:30pm, by Elisabeth Rosenthal:

COPENHAGEN — Negotiators have all but completed a sweeping deal that would compensate countries for preserving forests and other natural landscapes like peat soils, swamps and fields that play a crucial role in curbing climate change.

full article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/science/earth/16forest.html?hp

In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, animal rights, frugal living, food safety, global food crisis and the urgency of global warming.

On a global scale the meat industry generates nearly 1/5 of the man made greenhouse gases that are accelerating climate change, more than the entire transport sector. Livestock accounts for 9% of global CO2 emissions, 37% of methane and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions.

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If you're into woodworking or are handy around the house, the Woolridge Green Club needs your help! Our club has been talking about having a recycling station made for the cafeteria. The current set up doesn’t lend itself to optimal student participation. The following link is a picture of a recycling station similar to what I’m envisioning.

http://www.tru.ca/__shared/assets/recycling_station9055.jpg

There has been talk about priming/pumping up the "real economy" (manufacturing, for example) of late. But, maybe that is just mostly talk for show, and a diversion for the next grand theft (after all, if the best way to rob a bank is to own one, maybe the best way to rob a government via the banks may to to "own the administration"/manage it via appointments in the Treasury Dept/Fed/other economic advisers/departments). So, here is the case (not happy reading for liberals and progressives) made by Matt Taibbi:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout/1

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

the spin machine twirls and curls:
E-Mail Fracas Shows Peril of Trying to Spin Science

In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, animal rights, food safety, global food crisis, frugal living, and livestock productions connection to global warming.